He's a Vampire
by WaterIsAStateOfMind
Summary: Troy Bolton is not like others. Troy Bolton is a vampire. He doesn't question himself until she approaches him about it. This summary sucks, but it's an interesting read.
1. December 5, 2008

­It was a night like any other. Troy Bolton was roaming the streets like any other seventeen year old boy would do. But Troy's roaming wasn't from angst or disobedience. It was a part of his nature. Troy Bolton is a vampire, so being nocturnal is normal to him and his father. Another thing that comes along with his vampiric nature is the need to feed. That's mainly what this night time roaming was about. Finding the perfect victim.

He trekked up and down the streets of downtown looking for someone that fit his profile. A pretty girl that looked like she wouldn't be missed if something happened to her. A girl walked past him. His heightened sense of smell alerted him that she had been drinking heavily, and she would easily succumb to his charms. Not his type. Another girl walked pass, and she smelled like lavender and looked well enough. Perfect. He turned around and quickened his pace to catch up with her.

"Excuse me miss." He said tapping her shoulder, "My name is Troy, and I usually don't do this, but would you like to come and join me for a drink?"

She laughed.

"Are you sure you're old enough to drink?" she asked jokingly.

"Positive." He replied.

"Alright then. Where to?"

"It's this way." Troy said to her.

As the evening went on, Troy began to charm the girl. Before midnight she stopped him in the middle of a sentence.

"I'm really having a good time. I hope you don't think it too forward of me if I ask you to come to a motel with me?" she asked.

Troy smiled silently to himself.

"Of course. What sane man would deny you?"

The motel room, paid for by her, was a dingy room with the wallpaper peeling off of the ceiling. She, he still hadn't bother to learn her name, plopped down on the bed and began to take her clothes off. Troy took off his shirt, climbed over to her, and began kissing her neck right before he extended his fangs and bit directly into her skin sending her into a fit of screaming. He bit down again, this time harder, and silenced her, as he finished feeding, blood spilling from his mouth to his chest.

******

Later that night, the motel owner found the body and called the police. When they arrived they came with cameras and took photos of the body.

"What the fuck?" The detective started, "this is the third murder to happen this month."

"Don't worry sir. We're gonna catch this sick bastard." An officer said to him.

"I just wanna know one thing. What kind of rapist drains their victim of their blood? It just doesn't make sense." another officer said.

"That's because you aren't dealing with a rapist. You're dealing with a vampire." he said.

The detective turned around and saw a man standing wearing all black with guns and knives decorating his clothes.

______________________________________________________________________________

"Wildcats! Wildcats!" the gym room rang with excitement from the bleachers.

It was East High's first pep rally of the New Year. It was January and Troy was standing in the locker room, energized from his feeding last night, with the rest of the basketball team, to be introduced to their peers. It was like this every year: first, all the kids would file into the auditorium, then, some random announcer would get them pumped up, after that, the principal would speak about starting the New Year off on the right foot, then finally the cheerleaders would perform their…routine, if that's what you want to call it, before the basketball team came out. Year after year, it was the same.

Right before the cheerleaders started, Troy took a seat in the bleachers to get a better view. As they filed in and took their formations, he noticed that there was a new face among the red and white uniformed cheerleaders. She was a brunette with pale blue eyes. She was standing next to Gabriella and Sharpay, laughing. Troy couldn't take his eyes off her.

"She's pretty, right?" a voice came from behind him. He turned to see Ryan standing behind him, "the new girl."

"Yeah I guess. Do you know her?" Troy asked inquisitively.

"Sharpay introduced us. Unfortunately she introduced me as the cheerleading team's 'choreographer', so naturally she thought I was gay, that is until me and Gabriella almost had sex in front of them"

"Eww. Mental Picture." Troy replied with a shudder.

The crowd roared as the lights in the gym started to dim. Troy got up and started down the bleachers.

"_Great." _Troy thought, "_just what everyone needs: another poorly danced routine to the sound of _Hollaback Girl._" _

Just then a siren started to ring.

_Boys call you sexy_

_And you don't care what they say_

_See every time you turn around_

_They screamin' ya' name_

Just the sound of a different song made Troy turn around and look down at the cheerleaders. It was a totally different dance. The previous dances were plain and simple. This one was elaborate and pain staking. Troy looked around the crowd and everyone had the same look: surprise. No one knew their cheerleading squad could bring such fierceness to their routines.

When the song was over everyone was cheering so loud, that it was hard to hear the players' names be announced. After the pep rally, Troy caught up with the girl along with the rest of the squad.

"Hi Troy!" Sharpay exclaimed before he got within 5 feet range of them.

"Hey" he said.

"Now who's that? You never introduced me to him." The girl said.

"Oh. This is Troy. Troy this is Jessica." Sharpay said

"Hi." Troy said holding out his hand.

"Hello" Jessica replied as she did the same.

"Do you mind if I ask who came up with the routine you just performed?"

"I did. I just thought that the previous routine was a little…" Jessica started.

"Simple? Plain? Uninteresting?"

"Hey!" Sharpay called.

"Those are a few words that come to mind…" Jessica said while stifling a laugh.

"Troy" Chad's voice came from behind him, "Coach needs to see you."

**********

"You wanted to see me dad?" Troy said as he entered the office.

"Sit down" Jack Bolton said seriously.

He sat down cautiously as Mr. Bolton took out a folder and threw it on the table.

"Open it" he said.

Troy picked up the folder and opened it. Pictures of a bloody body with teeth marks all over it fell on the desk.

"Didn't I tell you to be careful when you feed?!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't think that anyone would find her." Troy asked.

"That's not the point! You're lucky we have people in the police department or people would start to suspect us. Or worse it might draw a hunter here." Jack replied.

"A hunter?" Troy said inquisitively.

"A vampire hunter. They're a group with only onw purpose in life: to kill us."

"But dad" Troy started, "wouldn't we be able to kill them or outrun them or something with our powers?"

"That's the thing. They are just as powerful as us. They have everything we have except the thirst. So be careful."

"Alright. I will be."

*************


	2. Chapter 2

_December 31, 2008_

The day Troy had been dreading. Today was Sharpay and Ryan's annual New Years party and Troy seriously wasn't up for attending. No one he wanted to see would be there. Except for Jessica. Since he met her at the pep rally, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Maybe, he admitted to himself, she was the reason he even attempted to look nice and go to the party.

Okay, maybe "attempted" wasn't the right word. Troy struggled to look nice for this party. He had gone through dozens of outfits before finally deciding on a dark buttoned shirt, a pair of dark khakis, and a pair of dress shoes. He climbed into the driver's seat of his sleek silver Chrysler 300 and sped off.

The streets around the Evans' house were crowded with cars. Inside was no better. There were people everywhere. Troy pushed through all of the people there giving everyone a polite "hey" or a "how's it goin'?" before he made his was to the deck. This is where he usually spent party time at the Evans house, not because he was trying to be anti social, but because he was afraid that if someone got a small cut or a nose bleed, he wouldn't be able to control himself.

He took times like this to think. How exactly did his dad get those pictures? Who was they're 'man on the inside'? How did anyone find that body he had been so careful to hide? Maybe he wasn't being that careful. After years of hunting, he thought that he wouldn't make any amateur mistakes like that. Another question he had was how did one become a vampire? Is it even possible for one to become a vampire? He knew there were occasions that there have been reports of people being changed into one. Just how did one go about that process?

Troy must've been thinking for a while because he looked up and saw Jessica sitting next to him. It was surprising that she got this close without his superior hearing picking up on her voice from inside the house.

"Hey" Troy said.

"Hey. I hope you don't mind me sitting here." Jessica replied with a question.

"No. It's fine. It's just that I never see anyone out here and not in the party. Besides me." Troy said looking up.

"Why are you out here?" Jessica asked.

"Well" Troy started, "I guess you could say… I'm anti-social"

"I know how you feel. Growing up with just my brother to talk to I feel awkward talking to anyone else." Jessica said sadly.

"Your parents died?" Troy asked, stating the obvious

"Yeah" Jessica replied, confused, "car accident"

"Sorry" Troy said sympathetically.

"Ehh. It's not your fault." Jessica waved it off.

A warm wind blew around the two. Jessica closed her eyes and embraced it. Troy's superhuman sense of smell picked up on every smell around him. He smelled the chlorine from the pool nest door. He smelled the wood chips from the park two blocks away. He smelled Jessica. He smelled a scent that was unique to her. She smelled like the beach and… coconut. It was a mouth watering scent. Troy wanted to have her right now, no one could stop him. There was nothing there to distract him.

Except _that_ smell. Troy picked up its scent almost immediately. His ears shot up, picking up every sound near him.

"Are you okay, Troy?" Jessica asked

"Yeah. Fine." Troy replied rudely. A low growl escaped from his throat and he hoped Jessica didn't hear that.

"I have to go." He said as he got up quickly.

"Alright. Happy New Year." Jessica said as she got up and waved at him.

"New Year." He whispered to himself.

Then, as if he wasn't able to control his own body, he walked over to Jessica and kissed her. She looked back at him with surprise.

"Happy New Year." He said as he started to walk away.

"I'll call you" Jessica said once she found her voice.

Troy replied with a smile.

************

Troy walked to the car quickly dialing his phone.

"Come on dad. Come on pick up." Troy thought as he drove down the street.

"We have a problem" Jack's voice came from the other end.

"Did you smell it, too?" Troy asked as he rounded the corner.

"Yes. Your Uncle Charlie and I are at the quarry. That's where the smell is strongest."

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute" He hung up.

The rock quarry is the perfect place to hide from other vampires. The smell of the sewer water building up under the rocks, the smell of the excavating machinery, and the ever present smell of rocks was enough to keep everyone who doesn't work here away.

Troy walked up to his father. Him and his Uncle Charlie motioned for him to be quiet and did hand symbols that, to outsiders, would look like a bunch of gibberish, but to Troy, his father said _"We've got him cornered. Now split up."_

Troy walked down a path and jumped down a few rocks. He followed the scent until he reached a make shift cave. Inside of it there was the rotting stench of human flesh. Troy tried to keep his vomit down.

The cave was warm and a pile of wood was still smoking which meant whoever was here wasn't far away. He searched around the area within the cave and outside, but found nothing. He met back up with his father and uncle after 30 minutes of searching.

"I didn't find anything." Troy said.

"Whoever it was must've run off when they smelt us. Still, keep alert." Charlie said.

************

When school let back in after winter break, Troy wasn't surprised to see a sign-up sheet for the Spring Musical on the bulletin board outside of Ms. Darbus' class. Of course Sharpay and Ryan were huddled around it along with Gabriella, Zeke, Chad and Taylor.

Sharpay looked to be very upset about something.

"What is that old bat thinking?! Sweeney Todd?!" Sharpay said angrily, "that's not Broadway material! Hell, it was barely even a musical!"

"Well sis, it was a popular movie and it was a very successful play." Ryan said in an attempt to calm her down.

"Yeah Shar, and besides, it'll be fun to do a play about a musical killer" Jessica said as she surprised everyone, even Troy, by suddenly materializing.

Sharpay scoffed.

"Troy what do you think about this?" Jessica asked motioning to the board.

That caught him off-guard. He didn't realize anyone had seen him.

"Oh…I uhh… I think it would be cool to do this. Maybe I'll actually have a chance to get the lead role over Ryan in this one." He replied.

"You're on." Ryan said, accepting the challenge.

"Seriously?! You guys actually want to do this play?! You people are all crazy!" Sharpay said as she stormed off. Zeke gave a quick good-bye to everyone before he followed after her.

Gym class was always Troy's favorite time of the day. He loved watching the uncoordinated people in his period stumble over each other, and he loved always being the person everyone wanted on their team. Today was swimming relay day. Thanks to his vampiric genes, Troy was the fastest swimmer in the class no one ever challenged him. So it came as a surprise when his father told him that he had someone trying to break his winning streak. He didn't take it seriously until he saw Jessica step up onto the diving platform.

"So you want to race me?" Troy asked arrogantly, "if you haven't heard, I'm a pretty good swimmer."

"Don't worry. I think I can hold my own against you." Jessica replied as she put her swim cap on.

Coach Bolton blew the whistle and both swimmers took off. Before Troy could even reach the end of the pool, Jessica was already at the other end, greeted with a cheer from the rest of the class.

Troy heard Jessica say "Ah. It was nothing" and "It was easy."

He climbed out of the pool and met her at the end. He could feel her eyes going over every inch of his body, and he was doing the same to her, trying to see how she was so fast.

"Congrats. I didn't think anyone would be able to beat me." Troy said dejectedly, "you'll have to tell me sometime how you were so fast."

"Maybe tonight if you're free." Jessica said indifferently.

"Maybe." Troy said.

************

After school auditions were hectic. Everyone that had signed up for the role of Sweeny Todd gave extremely disappointing performances, even Ryan, who wasn't 'angry' enough for the role. When Troy did his audition he knew that he had sealed the part even if Ms. Darbus wouldn't say it to the others.

Then the auditions for Mrs. Lovett came and again no one gave a good enough audition for her. Ms. Darbus finally gave up on that character for the day when one of the people auditioning called her "Mrs. Rub-it".

During auditions for the character Johanna, Jessica came and gave a stellar performance of _Green Finch and Linnet Bird_. Everyone was in awe, and asked her why she didn't try out for Mrs. Lovett.

Troy met up with Jessica at her car after the auditions.

"So I've decided to take you up on your offer." He stated.

"And what offer would that be?" Jessica replied with a question.

"You telling me how you swam so fast. I wanted to ask you out."

"Ah. Regretfully I can't tonight." Jessica said.

"How about Saturday?" Troy asked a little too eagerly.

Jessica picked up on that and hesitated to reply.

"Sure. I guess. Are you going to pick me up?"

"Yeah. Of course. What kind of gentleman would I be if I let my date drive her own car?"

Jessica laughed before she got in her car and drove away.


	3. Turned

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but what can I say? Writer's block sucks.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Troy arrived at Jessica's house before 5 that Saturday. He had planned to take her on a picnic, but the drenching rain ruined that, so he decided to take her to a movie and out to eat. A cliché, yes, but nothing could be better than that.

He ran to her house form his car and stood at the door. Finally a man came and opened the door. He was very attractive, and like Jessica he had dark hair and light blue eyes.

"You must be Troy. I'm Elias. You can call me Eli." He said as he extended a hand.

Troy came in and sat down on the couch. Jessica ran down the stairs and gave Troy a peck on the cheek.

"So where are we going?" Jessica asked.

"Just to a movie and out to eat." Troy said.

A woman came down the stairs and looked at Troy and Jessica cuddled on the couch.

"Umm…hello." She said.

"Hi." Troy said as he reached his hand out, "I'm Troy."

"I'm Liz."

She went to the kitchen and went back upstairs.

"I hate her. That's my brother's girlfriend." Jessica said spitefully.

"Well then, that awkward moment aside. Let's get going."

They went to see _One Missed Call_ which was not scary at all, and then went to dinner at Olive Garden.

"That movie was terrible!" Jessica said as she nibbled on a breadstick.

"I know. I mean I've seen scarier stuff during basketball practice." Troy said while the waiter sat their drinks down.

"So how long have you been living in New Mexico?" Troy asked when they're dinner arrived.

"I've lived here all my life. I've always known you, but you never paid any attention to me. I always thought you hated me" Jessica said with a laugh.

"No! I'm not the kind of person that can hate someone." Troy said.

"Oh" Jessica blushed.

"Why are you blushing?" Troy said with a smile.

"Because I never thought I could meet a guy like you." Jessica said as she looked down.

"You wouldn't normally meet a guy like me around here. I'm one of a kind." Troy said with seriousness.

"Well I'm glad I got you before anyone else did. I'd hate to miss out on an opportunity like this".

This time Troy started blushing. He didn't even know he was capable of blushing.

After dinner Troy took Jessica home and walked her to the door.

"I had a good time tonight, Troy" she said

"Me too. Let's do it again."

Troy took Jessica's face in his hands and kissed her.

"Bye." Jessica said as she went inside.

************

"I can't believe this!!" Sharpay screeched in the middle of the hallway.

She, Gabriella, Ryan, Kelsi, Jason, and Zeke were staring at the cast list for _Sweeney Todd_ when Troy and Jessica came up hand in hand.

"What's going on?" Jessica asked before as she walked over to the bulletin board. She cheered.

"Oh yeah! Lead role right here!" she said arrogantly then realized why Sharpay was so upset, "oh…"

She walked back over to Troy and took his hand again.

"Congrats." He said as he gave her a quick peck and walked off to his class.

He turned around and yelled, "Do you need a ride home today?"

"No. I drove today." Jessica replied.

"Good. Because I need a ride!" Troy said before he laughed and ran to catch up with Chad and Ryan.

"So I'm guessing your date went well." Sharpay said as she linked arms with Jessica.

"You mean dates? We've been on four." Jessica said with a smile.

"Wait four?" Gabriella asked as she linked up with Jessica's other arm, "you two must've gone out once a week for the past month!"

"So? What's wrong with that?" Jessica asked sincerely.

"Nothing. You just don't want a guy who's too clingy." Sharpay stated.

"I don't think it's being clingy. He must really like her." Gabriella replied.

"I hope so. I really like him too." Jessica said.

Suddenly she got an evil glint in her eye.

"Hey Gabi?" Jessica started, "you and Troy are pretty close, right?"

"Yeah. Like brother and sister." She replied.

"Would you do me a favor? Could you…umm…spy on Troy for me?"

"Nope! Uh-uhn." Gabriella said with authority.

"Please!? Just to see if he's serious about our relationship. Please".

She did a sad face as tears started coming from her eyes.

"Okay. Okay. Just stop the fake crying!" Gabriella submitted.

Troy sat with Chad and Ryan during Chemistry. They were dissecting squirrels and Troy had to keep focused to stop himself from going crazy while Ryan cut the body.

"Hey you okay, Troy?" Ryan asked as the blade cut through the fur.

"I'm fine." He replied, his mouth clenched and his body tight.

"So Troy, it seems like things between you and Jessica are getting pretty serious." Chad said.

"I don't know. I mean I really like her and all, but I don't know if she likes me as much as I like her." Troy said with regret.

"You know you could always ask. The worst thing she could do is say she doesn't." Ryan jumped in as he cut into the animal again.

"I guess." Troy said, "Or I could get one of you to ask her for me."

Chad and Ryan burst into laughter.

"Like we would really agree to that." Ryan said after he caught his breath.

"Not even if I offered you guys… Free rides to school?"

"You know what I'd agree too? If you let me use your car whenever I wanted." Ryan said.

"No way!" Troy said, "if you fucked my car up I'd be so dead!"

"Okay. Have fun talking about your feelings…" Ryan said.

Troy sighed. "Okay, you can use it only if I don't need it. And you only get two uses."

"Works for me!" Ryan said, "I'm gonna need it his weekend. I wanna take Gabriella out."

"Maybe." Troy said as the bell rang and they filed out of class

After school Jessica sat in the gym room watching Troy shoot baskets. Gabriella and Ryan came in. Gabriella gave Jessica a wink before she ran up to Troy. Ryan sat next to her.

"Hey Jess."

"Hey. What's up?"

"Nothing much. So you think you're ready for the play?" he asked.

"Oh I don't know. I haven't been in a play like that. I still can't believe I got the lead role."

"Wow. You know if you're so nervous, you could come over my house and we could practice." Ryan said.

"Sure why not?"

"Alright. You can come over today."

"Okay, at about 6?"

"Yeah. 6 is perfect."

Jessica pulled into the Evans' driveway. There were no cars there except a black Mustang convertible, which she assumed was Ryan's. As she walked to the door, she constantly got chills up and down her body. That wasn't a good sign since it wasn't cold outside.

Inside the Evans house was like a dream. The inside was huge, everything coordinated with everything else, and everything was clean. Ryan came downstairs in pajamas and, since the first time she's seen him, without a hat.

"Hey Jess."

"Hey. So you ready?"

"Yeah. We can start with the songs then work our way to the dialogue."

They practiced every song from the movie at least four times before Ryan opted to take a break. They ate the leftover pizza from earlier outside on the Evans spacious patio.

"So you and Troy huh? How's that working out?" Ryan asked before he took a bite out of his spinach pizza.

"I don't know. I really like him, but I don't know if he likes me as much as I do." Jessica replied.

"Well I know I probably shouldn't say this, and don't tell him I told you this, but he likes you too. As much as you like him." Ryan said.

"Really?" Jessica's face lit up.

"Yeah. Really, so don't think that Gabriella is trying to steal him from you or anything."

"Well actually…"

"Well Troy just tell her that" Gabriella said as she grabbed her car keys and walked towards the door.

"Thanks Gabi." Troy said gratefully, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright. Bye"

She started walking to her car. All of a sudden a figure jumped on her back and knocked her down. She screamed at the top of her lungs hoping Troy would hear her. The figure punched her in the face. Before she passed out she felt a sharp pain in her neck.

Troy ran outside in time to see some…thing biting Gabriella's neck. He tackled it and knocked it off of her. The figure punched him, breaking his nose. Before he could scream out in pain the cartilage and bone snapped itself back into place as his nose healed itself. Troy returned the hit with another punch then he grabbed the figure by the head and twisted it until he heard a wet snap. He yanked the thing's head from its shoulder. Then he threw Gabriella over his shoulder, and pulled the thing back to his house.

"DAD!! DAD!!" Troy yelled through the house.

He came running down the stairs.

"What? What's wrong Troy?" He said frantically.

He pointed to the couch.

"Some…thing just bit Gabriella."

Jack walked over to the couch and examined her neck.

"Troy. This is a vampire bite. Where's the thing that bit her?"

Troy lifted the head in his hand.

"Okay… where's the body?" Jack asked.

Troy looked down at the beheaded body of the thing.

"Good job Troy. I pity the vampire that has to go up against you." Jack laughed.

"Dad this isn't funny. What are we gonna do?"

At that moment Gabriella woke up, gasping for air. Troy and Jack went over to help her

"What happened to me?! What the hell is that!?!" she said pointing to the severed head in Troy's hand.

"Okay Gabi. I need you to calm down." Troy said.

"What did you do to that thing? Did you rip his head off?" Gabriella asked staring at the head.

"Uh… yeah. Kinda."

"Why?!" Gabriella asked

"Because that's the only way to kill a thing like this." Jack said, his volume getting lower.

"A thing like what, Troy?" Gabriella asked as she got a paper towel and put it on her bleeding neck.

"A vampire…" Troy finished.

Gabriella laughed with sarcasm.

"A vampire? Really? Next you're gonna tell me that you're one too." She laughed again.

Troy stayed silent.

"But vampires aren't real. If you really are a vampire, do something vampires would."

"Like?" Jack asked.

"Oh, turn into a bat. Or look in the mirror and let me not see your reflection." Gabriella said bitterly.

"Well we can't do that. But We do have super… everything. Strength, hearing, sight, the whole nine yards." Troy said.

"Okay then, lift up the refrigerator." Gabriella said.

Troy walked over to the kitchen, and, with one hand, lifted the refrigerator over his head.

"Happy?" He said as he put the fridge down.

Gabriella sat with her mouth wide open.

"But tha—that's not possible. Not for a human anyway." Gabriella said.

"That's because we aren't human."

"So that thing that bit me…"

"Is just like us. Except we rarely eat people." Jack said.

"Rarely?" Gabriella asked skeptically.

"If we absolutely have to we go to another town and find another vampire."

"Wow. So, because of that thing I'm gonna be like you?" Gabriella asked.

"You make it sound like being a vampire is so bad. You get to live longer, all of your senses are enhanced, and you heal so quick its almost impossible for you to get sick." Jack said.

"Wow. You look so young." Gabriella said as she got another paper towel, "why won't this stop bleeding? I thought you said that we'll heal quickly."

"Until you get the hang of it, you have to make it happen. Just focus on the spot on your neck and force it to heal."

Gabriella moved the paper towel from her neck before she closed her eyes and concentrated. Almost immediately, the two holes in her neck closed up and the scars started to vanish.

"Cool." She said as she looked in the mirror, "but what will I do if I get the urge to drink blood?"

"Well you won't have to worry about that for another few days. Until the vampire gene mixes in with your own genes, the only thing unusual about your diet will be that you'll crave meat more often." Troy said.

"I can't go home like this. My mom will drill me with questions. How am I supposed to say 'oh mom I got attacked on my way home from Troy's house. Yeah and the thing that attacked me was a vampire. Oh and by the way Troy and his dad are vampires too.'?" Gabriella asked.

"Well you could just stay here." Troy said.

"As if it was that easy." Gabriella said with a scoff.

"Gabriella, you're 18. Your mother shouldn't be running your life."

"I'll call her and tell her that my car wasn't working and your dad said he'd have it fixed by tomorrow. In just enough time for me to get home, change, and get to school on time."

Troy laughed.

"What's so funny?" Gabriella asked as she stood up.

"You are the most neurotic person I've ever met. You don't even care about the fact that you were just bitten by a vampire." Troy said before he dodged a pillow aimed at his face.

"I need somewhere to sleep." Gabriella said.

"You can have the guest room. It hasn't been used since my mom was here." Troy said.

"I sure hope nothing bad can come from us letting her turn." Jack said when he was sure Gabriella was out of hearing range.

"Don't worry dad. If anyone can handle this, it's Gabriella." Troy said with confidence.


	4. Chapter 4

Gabriella's crave for a feeding couldn't have come at a worse time. According to his dad, Troy was responsible for helping her become accustomed to the vampire lifestyle. Now instead of taking Jessica out, he had to help Gabriella with her first hunt. The first hunt was when first timers decided which animal's blood they liked the best. While they were inside Troy's old truck, there was a lot of tension filling the air.

"Are you okay, Troy?" Gabriella asked as the cool night air blew against her face.

"Yeah." Troy replied with an agitated tone.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's not your fault. It's was gonna happen one of these days." Troy said acceptingly.

"Why didn't you tell me how hard this was gonna be?" Gabriella asked.

"It varies from person to person. I think it's easier for me since I was born a vampire and you were bitten." Troy replied, "There's no way I'd be able to relate to what you're going through."

"Oh god. What if Ryan finds out?"

"I think Ryan would still like you even if you were an alien. It's Jessica I'm worried about."

"Aww… just don't think about it, because you're gonna slip up." Gabriella said supportively.

The two got out of Troy's truck in the middle of the forest. Gabriella looked around at the scene before her.

"Okay, so we're in the forest?" Gabriella asked as she put her hair into a ponytail.

"Yeah. We're going hunting." Troy replied.

"For what, may I ask?"

"Well that's for you to decide. Just let your animal instincts take over. That'll help guide you to your first feed." Troy explained.

"If you say so." Gabriella started in a worried tone, "But what if I go wacko and wander off and get into town and start killing people?"

"Don't worry. I'll kill you before that happens." Troy said with a monotone.

"Are you serious?" Gabriella asked.

"When it comes to protecting our secret, I'm always serious." Troy said without looking at her.

Troy sat on a large rock and stared at Gabriella, waiting for her to make a move.

Gabriella looked back at him. "What?"

"Go. Start hunting. Don't just stand there." Troy said.

"Well excuse me _sir_, but I haven't done this ever. Could you maybe give me a demonstration or a description?" Gabriella retaliated.

Troy stood up. "Okay, the first thing you need to do is calm your nerves that way your senses will work properly. Then what you need to do is smell the air until you smell something…delicious. After that, just go for it."

Gabriella followed Troy's directions down to the punctuation marks. Without warning she shot off into the trees. Troy barely kept up with and when she stopped he nearly ran into a tree.

She had stopped by a nearby lake and she was feeding already. Troy walked over to her and patted her on the back.

"Hmm… bear. I would've taken you for a deer kinda person." Troy said looking sown at Gabriella's prey.

Gabriella didn't reply, instead she kicked him in the shin.

After another 15 minutes Gabriella finished feeding and looked at Troy, blood all over her clothes.

"Crap." She said, "How am I going to explain this?"

"Get in the lake, wash off and I'll have another set of clothes for you by the time you finish." Troy said as he took off through the trees.

Gabriella took off her clothes and stepped into the lake. The cold water was bracing and it made her surroundings more vivid to her senses. She noticed a strange smell. A smell that caused her stomach to turn. It smelled like dead people. She started to rinse the blood off of her body before she noticed the smell was getting closer. The water was making too many ripples for it to be just her in the lake. Suddenly something grabbed her and pulled her under. She fought against the figure, landing a few blows against it. She felt something grab her hand and pull her up. She screamed extremely loud.

"Gabriella. Gabriella! Calm down! It's me!" Troy said as he tried to restrain her.

"Troy, there's something in the lake! It tried to take me under!" Gabriella said in panic.

"Look calm down. If it makes you feel any better I'll check." Troy said as he took off his shoes and dove into the center of the lake.

When he came back up, Gabriella was fully dressed and waiting for him.

"I didn't see anything." Troy said, shaking himself like a wet dog.

"Are you sure?" Gabriella asked.

"Positive. Now let's get back to my truck."

Troy dropped Gabriella off at her house and went home. When he arrived, his dad was still up.

"So how'd it go?" Jack asked, looking up from the TV.

"It went better than I thought." Troy replied

"So nothing went wrong?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Nope."

"Troy, don't lie to me."

"Okay. Something attacked Gabriella in the lake." Troy admitted before he grabbed a bottle of water.

"Well what was it?" Jack asked as he joined Troy in the kitchen.

"I don't know. While she was feeding, she got all bloody, so I went to her house and grabbed some clothes and when I came back she was drowning. I went and checked the lake, but I didn't see anything." Troy said after he gulped the whole bottle of water.

"You left her alone?!"

"I'm sorry! It was only for a few minutes."

"Troy." Jack sighed, "I think that ever since Gabriella was turned, a lot of things have been happening to her. I don't know what it is, but I get the feeling that you should watch her closely for the time being."

"Alright. Night dad." Troy said as he ascended the stairs and went into his room.

Saturday morning Troy wasted no time in calling Jessica, but he didn't get an answer. So he called again. He got the machine again, so he left a message.

"Hey, it's me. Again. I'm sorry we couldn't do anything yesterday, but I had some… important stuff to do, so maybe I can make up for it tonight. Call me back."

************

He figured that this was a good time to practice for the play, so he called Gabriella and they practiced at her house. Well _he _practiced since she only had one song in the whole play. Gabriella took it upon herself to criticize Troy every time he messed up in pitch or forgot a word.

"Gabriella. Stop it." Troy said finally.

"Well Troy I'm sorry, but I want your performance to go smoothly, so I have to do this." Gabriella replied.

"You know you sound a lot like Sharpay." He said playfully taking out another bottle of water and gulping it down.

"What can I say?" Gabriella started, "sometimes she does things for the good of everyone."

Troy couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't see Sharpay, even the Sharpay he now sees as his friend, doing something for the good of everyone. If it helped everyone in the end then good for them, but she was looking out for herself, mostly.

When Troy had enough of Gabriella's constant criticism, they both went to his house. His dad was barbequing and Gabriella couldn't miss out on Jack's special ribs. On the way home, Troy called Jessica for the tenth time that day. Thankfully she picked up.

"Jessica. Hi. I've been calling you all day." Troy said happily into his cell phone.

"I know and I've been meaning to call you back, but I just didn't have enough time to get around to it." Jessica replied, sounding out of breath.

"Well I'm glad you called, my dad was in the middle of barbecuing and I wanted to know if you wanted to come over?" Troy asked.

"I wish I could, but I need to help my brother and the evil woman with something extremely important."

Something hit the floor in the background. It sounded like a body.

"Hey!!" Jessica yelled, "I'm sorry Troy. I really have to go! Bye."

"Okay. I'll talk --"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before she hung up.

"So what'd she say?" Gabriella asked.

"She sounded...busy."

Troy and Gabriella strolled in from outside into a living room full of people Troy had never seen before.

They all looked alike. Young faces with mature personalities. Two of them were blonde and looked like they could be twins. The taller one had an air of ferocity to him. Troy was immediately reminded of Ryan and Sharpay.

He was sure they were vampires because they all had that distinctive smell, but how did they get here and where was his father. Gabriella noticed that his dad was missing because she had put her purse down and clenched her fists. Troy's predator instincts kicked in and he took an offensive pose, staring down each of the 6 men. Before he could launch the first strike, his dad came out of the kitchen.

"Dad who are they?" Troy asked, not coming out of his attack stance.

"They're here to address a problem that's been going on in the city." Jack said as he put a beer down on the table.

"Yes we're here to--"

"I thought you said you only had one child." The tall vampire interrupted rudely.

"I do. This is my son's friend." Jack said, "I think she is part of the problem as well.

"I'm Gabriella. And don't worry. I know what you are."

"How?" the tall vampire asked rudely again.

"You _reek_." Gabriella replied just as rudely.

"What's been going on?" Troy asked sitting down on the floor.

"We have two problems. The first is the string of killings going around the city. Innocent people are being killed, not other vampires." The first vampire stated.

"Well I guess I'm a part of that. I got bit a few weeks ago." Gabriella chimed in.

"Okay. Our second problem is… all of these killing have attracted hunters."

"Fuck me." Troy said under his breath.

"Okay, these 'hunters' you speak of. Am I to assume they're vampire hunters?" Gabriella asked.

"Yes. That is correct." The short blonde vampire said.

"And this brings me to our purpose for being here today. We have reason to believe that there isn't just one hunter, there are two. Possibly three. And one of them is your age." The tall blonde one said.

"This is just awesome." Troy stated sarcastically before he stormed out.

Gabriella followed after him. "Troy calm down. It's not the end of the world." she said trying to console her stress ridden friend.

"No I won't calm down! Now not only do I have to deal with the stress of being a vampire myself, now I have to look out for my friend who's one, and now there is someone with the ability to kill me at my school!" Troy yelled in his front lawn, "And to top it all off, the girlfriend I _thought_ I had isn't answering my calls! I'm going for a drive. If you want a ride from me, now would be the time to take it."

"No you go ahead. You need this time alone. I'm gonna go and see what the blondies are talking about."

Troy wound up in the park from his childhood. It was supposed to rain that day, so no one was there.

"_Perfect"_ he thought to himself.

Troy lied down on a blanket he pulled out of his trunk. Within the first 20 minutes of solitude, he had calmed down a lot. But he also found himself thinking of his mother. His beautiful mother who died of "cancer". At least that was the story his dad had told him. If that's true why didn't they have a funeral for her? And that theory hadn't made since to him since he grew into his vampire genes. Vampires cannot get sick from anything. He thought about how his mother used to sing to him to keep away the pain he would go through everyday while his body changed its bone structure to fit his new vampire skeleton. His mother knew how to make everything better. If she were here now she would tell him _"Now Troy. You can't let small things like this get in the way of you living. And we have a long life to live"_. A trickle of water hit his cheek and he thought it was raining, but he was crying. He wasn't even aware he still had the ability to cry since he hadn't done it in so long. One thing he did notice though was that his stomach was growling loudly, so he headed home.

When he got home there was a plate of every type of meat you could possibly think of. Troy didn't waste any time eating. He went to his room as soon as rain started pouring down from the sky.

At 2 am, Troy sat in bed eating a piece of sausage when he heard a car pull up outside and a door close. Before the doorbell rang, Troy was opening the door. It was Jessica.

"Hey." She said, hair dripping wet.

"Hey." Troy said, "Is everything alright?"

"Umm... can I come in? I'm really scared because while I was on my way home this car started following me, so I came here."

Troy suddenly got tense. "Who's following you? What does the car look like?"

"Troy. Don't. I'm okay. I haven't even seen it since I came down this block." Jessica said to calm him down.

"Just stay here." Troy said before he went outside.

He realized that he probably looked like a maniac, walking down the street, in the rain, without a shirt or shoes on, but it didn't matter. He needed to make sure nothing…dangerous was following Jessica. The rain was distorting every scent, so he couldn't pinpoint anything by smell, but he continued to walk anyway.

************

Back in Troy's house Jessica watched Troy walk down the street and out of vision until she made a phone call.

"Come on. Come on." She said into the receiver.

"Hello?" A voice came.

"Eli, I'm in." Jessica said to her brother, "Just what am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Anything that might lead you to suspect that he's a vampire." Eli said, "Do you have protection in case he comes back?"

Jessica sighed. Her brother is like a friend when it comes to everything, but vampire hunting. Then he's like her father.

"Dude, why would I need a condom? We're not gonna do anything." Jessica said.

"Umm… I meant in case he was a vampire and tried to kill you, do you have protection for that" Eli said slowly.

"Oh!" Jessica laughed, "That kind of protection. Yeah I never leave home without it."

"Alright call me when you're on your way back."

"Okay."

She hung up and started to look around the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Family pictures decorated the tables, dishes were clean, and the carpet was vacuumed. If there was any trace of vampire here, she would be able to smell it. She went into Troy's room and it looked just like any other teenage boy's room: it reeked of sweaty gym shorts, there were clothes hanging from everything, except hangers, and the floor looked like if you stepped on it in the wrong place it would swallow you up. Again, noting out of the ordinary. Although the smell of Troy's room was _horrible_, the smell of _that _actually stood out. Jessica searched around for what ever it was and when she found it, she almost threw up. It was a severed head. Hidden in the closet.

"Jessica?" Troy yelled from the bottom of the stairs, "Are you up there?"

"Crap." Jessica said as she quickly took a picture of the head and hid it again. "Yeah, I'm here."

Troy came upstairs smiling. "If I would have known you would be here, I would've cleaned up a little."

He tried to kiss her, but she pulled away.

"I gotta go. I'll see you." Jessica said nervously.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay. It is late" Troy asked, a little hurt.

"Yeah. I just talked to my brother and he said get home now. Sorry." She said as she quickly left out.

Troy stood on the stairs, surprised. He couldn't believe that he was just rejected. Shot down. Cast off like an old pair of underwear. He slunk into his room and sat lied down on his bed.


End file.
